Virus and spywares are computer diseases which make computer almost useless.They consume most of the CPU and Memory resources by starting some useless processes which are diffcult to end, even if we forcefully end them using task manager they start again after some minutes.Some viruses also disable task manager so we won’t be able to see what is going on with computer.

Its always better to have some level of protection against virus and spyware and stop them before attacking your computer.Although it is possible to remove after the virus penetrates into OS but its difficult and a big time taking job, it is possible that you have to spend a day or two, removing virus from your computer.Points mentioned below will help you protect your computer from viruses and spywares.

1) Use Antivirus Software.

Using an antivirus software with an updated viruses defination’s database is a mandatory thing to protect your computer against virus and spywares.Some nice
free antivirus softwares (e.g. Avira,AVG and Avast) are available for free to download and use and they also provide daily or weekly updates against new viruses.Updating is automatically, so you won’ t need to think about updating virus definations.

2) Use Antispyware

Although antivirus software provide sufficient protection against viruses but spyware are little different from viruses, they don’t do big damage to your PC but they bother alot.So to make your computer protected against spyware you should use a good antispyware softare too.Lavasoft Ad-aware and microsoft security essentials are good and free antispywares.

3) Use Firefox

It has been proved by many surveys and reports that firefox is one of the most secure browser.It protects against virus and spywares.You should use firefox rather than IE.

4) Don’t open USB Flash drive by double clicking

USB Flash Drives are responsible most of the times for the transfer of virus and spyware from one computer to another.Most of the home computer users are non techie and they don’t care that much about their pcs as technie peoples do.So if you are plugging in one of your friend’s USB Flash Drive, don’t ever open it by double clicking on its icon because most of the viruses creates an autorun file on the root of Flash drive.When you double click on Flash drive that file runs and do its work so use windows explorer or right click on icon of flash drive and select explore.

5) Clear Temporary Internet files and Cache

Internet browsing is also an another important source of viruses and spyware.When you browse a website, browser stores all of its files in cache so when you open the site again, it loads quickly.If a website is containing a virus or some malicious code then it will also store on your local harddrive.

You should Remove Temporary Internet files and Cache on daily basis.You can use CCleaner to make this task easy.CCleaner can also be run in background using a .bat file in startup.So it will start the program in backgroud and will clear all the cache automatically.

6) Don’t open Attachments from unknown emails

Viruses and spyware can also be spread using email’s attachment.Although gmail,yahoo and hotmail do have attachment scanning features but the possibility still remains as none of the antivirus software is 100% capable.So its always better to don’t open attachments from unknown emails.

7) Have a look on task manager

Having a look on task manager on different time intervals is always good, as task manager gives us a complete picture of which processes are running and how much resources they are consuming.Processor usage should be arround 5-10 % if everything is OK.It might go up during application run like firefox.But it shouldn’t be on 60 -70 % all the time.

8) Visit serials and cracks websites carefully

Serials and crack’s websites are mostly underground sites.Ownership of these sites is also anonymouse.These sites contain viruses,malicious code and spywares that can seriously harm your computer.So whenever you visit serials and crack’s website.Just visit carefully and if your browser started to lack or number of pop up windows appear just close that site ASAP.

9) Weekly anitvirus scan

You job isn’t done by only installing antivirus software you also need to do a weekly antivirus scan to make sure you computer is protected against viruses.If you have massive data in your computer’s harddrive this process can be little time taking.

10) Donot turn off windows firewall

﻿Although windows firewall isn’t very efficient against attacks and threat but it provides some level of security to your computer so its better to let it turned on.Most peoples disable it because some application might not work if it is enable but rather than disabling windows firewall allow the port which an application uses.

11) Automatic Windows Updates

Microsoft releases security updates to protect vulnerable security holes in windows.So your windows should be up to date always.You can let automatic updates turned on or you need to manually update your computer on timely basis.